Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

Before kids are even born, we’re bombarded with the idea that everything has to be measured. How long is the baby during each sonogram? How many times did they kick in the last 24 hours? Are they on time for their due date?  Once they get here, we're told to monitor their height and weight percentile, count how many teeth they’ve lost, list the words that they know. How do they compare to the norm? From academic milestones to physical changes to social interactions, we are constantly...

Most kids start sports somewhere like tiny soccer leagues or toddler gymnastics classes, but most of them start learning to work with teammates and play right on the playground. They naturally transition from one activity to another, but all too often we see kids and parents get stuck in the idea that one sport is the be-all-end-all, and not in a positive way.  Let’s talk through a scenario: Your recently turned eleven-year-old child has been really into soccer for the last four years. They...

There’s a great misunderstanding about what fencing does for kids and where it should fall in their lives, both now and in the future. Not so much within the fencing community, but definitely with people who are looking at it from the outside.  With other activities, like music, for example, it’s perfectly acceptable for a child just to do the activity, and it is understood that simple enrichment is worthwhile. It doesn’t matter if they will become the best violinist or pianist who plays in...

I recently had a discussion with a concerned parent who made the decision not to sign up her daughter for a fencing competition. Her reasoning was that in her last tournament, her daughter had only won three bouts in the pools and lost her first Direct Elimination (DE) bout. To her, it seemed evident that her daughter's level of experience was insufficient, and she planned to wait until her daughter's win rate improved. I explained to her that this situation is akin to a classic...

What are the things that make life really rich and meaningful? When you think about your own childhood, you probably don’t remember the things you did so much as the people you did them with. Your best friend who sat next to you in math class and made you laugh every day, or the kid on the playground who you lobbed pinecones at during recess, and all other meaningful friendships you had back then.  Though we put a lot of emphasis on what it means to be a great fencer, where kids end up getting...